(7.5-minute read)
Remember when.
A person’s character is important, especially if they are in or seeking a position of leadership.
The times, they are a < changin’ >. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_aF-rET8tk
Before I get too far into this, I want to note that at least 18 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct since the 1970s.[1] Some news organizations have put the number at 26.[2] Now, women that worked at the White House have come forth with stories about Trump’s misconduct. We have Trump’s own words confessing to committing sexual misconduct. When he was on the Howard Stern show he talked about walking in on naked contestants for beauty pageants because he owned the pageant.[3] [4] We went through this litany of sexual misconduct before Trump was elected the first time. None of this is new. I wrote about his trials < here >. https://yadayadayadablahblah.blogspot.com/2023/10/the-trump-trials.html
The man is a predator.
First nature.
What does “second nature” mean and why does it matter to the 2024 election or our lives for that matter? Second nature means “an acquired deeply ingrained habit or skill” according to Merriam-Webster.[5] Driving an automobile is second nature to most drivers once they’ve had enough practice. I say most because there are obviously drivers that should never get behind the wheel of any automobile EVER. The problem is that bad habits or skills can also become second nature.
Life story.
Speaking of drivers that should never be behind the wheel.
When my grandparents were alive, I would go and visit them on a regular basis. They lived in a small town a few hours’ drive away. One time I accompanied my granddad to check on something or other. He drove. On the way back home, he blew through a stop sign. I gasped and remarked to him that he just ran a stop sign. He just told me that he would stop twice next time.
He didn’t.
Afterwards I went and visited with my grandmother and expressed my concern to her about his driving. She calmed my concern by telling me that everyone in town knew to look out for him when he was on the road as well as two other people living in town. I asked who the other two were and she just looked at me, hesitant to say their names.
Then it came to me. I asked if the other two were my great aunts that lived in town as well and still drove? Yep. The three people that everyone knew to watch out for were all related to me.
I then went to visit one of those great aunts. We promptly got in her car to go to the store. She drove. I was somewhat trepidatious having been told previously what kind of driver she was.
Her car went about half a block and died. She restarted the car and we drove another block and the car died again. This happened the entire trip to the store, which was located on Main street. She was just real casual and nonchalant the entire time.
(Now I’ll add that the whole time that she was driving she was talking to me and not looking at the road.) I asked her if she had had her car looked at. She told me that she had taken the car to the mechanic there in town several times and that was the best he could fix it. Really?! Yep. But it wasn’t really a problem because she only went to the store, church and a couple of other places in town.
I always regretted that I never went and talked with the mechanic because the guy was a genius. How he managed to get her car to do that has always been beyond me. I’m sure the townsfolk were grateful.
Surprisingly they all voluntarily gave up driving and never had any major accidents. I still have granddad’s “56 Chevy.
The end.
Back to the post.
Racism isn’t something that people are born with. It’s learned. For millions in this country, it has become second nature. They were raised to be racist. They never learned to be different. They won’t change. They don’t want to change. It’s why MAGA Republicans want to change the educational system in the nation to reflect their white supremacy values.
Decades ago, I read an explanation of racism that stuck with me. It was that the most ignorant destitute downtrodden white person could find solace in KNOWING that they were better than ANY person of color. They were superior to them.
So, what does any of this have to do with the legal victory of E. Jean Carroll over Trump in her civil case? Trump and his Neo-Republican Fascists MAGA supporters are going to vote for Trump whatever his nature is.
His nature is their nature.
Shit show
The 2024 campaign is shaping up to be an even bigger shit show than the 2020 campaign. Tens of millions of Americans won’t even bother to participate. At all. Again.
MAGA Republican Fascists are falling over themselves to defend their rapist EX-President Trump with exclamations that he was only found guilty of sexual abuse NOT rape. So, “sexual abuse” is somehow better for them?
Look, even if Trump had been convicted of rape in a criminal case, they would continue to support him. If Trump is convicted and sentenced in any of the charges against him, they would vote for him. MAGAs would vote for him if he was/is in prison. (BTW he can run for the office even if he is in prison.) MAGAs will excuse any bad behavior that he exhibits.
For them Trump continues to be the perpetual victim. He’s the one suffering. He’s their spiritual leader.
Send him some money!
Sick puppy
As I mentioned earlier the E. Jean Carroll case against Trump was a civil not a criminal case. Trump did not testify in person. He was given the opportunity to do so. He declined. He did give a deposition. Have you watched it?[6] You should. Trump was un-customarily restrained through most of his deposition.
Most of the deposition is boring. Carroll’s lawyer Kaplan spent time establishing that Trump did NOT have any evidence backing up the accusations that he made against Carroll. No documents, research, witnesses, knowledge. At 21m23s he responded to a series of questions about Carroll not being his physical type. All he had seen were pictures. He then responded that his wives were his type. At 17m45s he misidentifies a picture of Carroll as being his then wife, Marla.
At one point (29m) Trump said that Carroll said that she loved it. “She said that it was very sexy to be raped.” He started riffing like he was at a campaign rally. He can’t seem to help himself. The stuff just spewed out of him. At 35m37s they got into what is known as the “Access Hollywood” tape.[7] At 39m40s he expanded more on being able to sexually assault women if you’re a star and then answered that he was a star. This is really where he dug a hole.
Then jumped in.
Second nature
I have watched a number of interviews since the verdict was announced of MAGA Republican Fascists defending Trump or as in former Vice President Pence’s case refusing to talk about what he thinks of the verdict. (Seriously, does that fawning sycophant have a spine?) Character, honor, integrity, honesty are of zero importance to them. It matters to them even less now than it did in 2016.
Is that important?
Back in the early days the nation as a whole gave at a bare minimum lip service to the idea that a person’s character was important when a President was concerned. They just took it for granted that a President would be of high moral character. We, the general public, in years past didn’t have access to the private lives of individuals that we have today. We had rumors but were lacking the hard evidence to back it up. Presidents and elected officials in general were better able to keep improprieties and infidelities secret. (Think JFK.) That’s much harder to do in this day and age. What’s more, when somebody does discover something, they can disseminate it immediately to a wide audience thanks to the internet and anti-social media.
In this era MAGA Republicans have been conditioned to accept that the country and our form of government has failed. They don’t search for the truth. The truth is what their handlers say it is. But who is their master?
What is their true nature?
https://yadayadayadablahblah.blogspot.com/
[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/list-trumps-accusers-allegations-sexual-misconduct/story?id=51956410
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/women-accused-trump-sexual-misconduct-list-2017-12?op=1
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyhXSDeU_Oc
[4] https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/08/politics/trump-on-howard-stern/
[5] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/second%20nature
[6] Trump deposition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrYGg95SBY0
[7] Grab ‘em by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ps4OWNm0rU4